Juxtaposed
by My Vantilene
Summary: Friends aren't things that are planned. They just happen, and no one truly notices until after it's already too strenuous to get them out of your life. But in a place like Sora's heart, it is virtually impossible to get them out of your life.


It was just her and Vanitas at first. Well, and Ventus, but he's been out cold for a year, according to the raven-haired boy so, really just her and Vanitas.

She assumed Vanitas was a figment of her own imagination at first. He looked like a nightmarish collision of everyone she had ever held dear. His sinew suit was identical to Riku's, his face resembled Roxas, and the way he spoke was reminiscent of Axel's own silver tongue. Vanitas absolutely frightened her, because everything about him was just a taunting nightmare, he was a monster, really. He was terrifying in the same way that all your favorite songs played backwards at the same time are terrifying. His eyes were Roxas's turned a violent gold, and his tone was Axel's, but without the advice and the kind words she had come to expect. She knew he was not out for her best interest, like the two of them were.

She only spoke once to Vanitas, only because she didn't know it was him. How could she when she first entered Sora's heart? No one ever told her there would be others. Then again, no one told her much of anything anyway.

It was one little slip, bound to never, ever, happen again, but when it was through, that was that. She ignored him and she hid from him wherever she could on the replication of Destiny Islands.

That was another thing that made this place a tease. There was an ocean, but the water was still. No waves rippled through the clear, clear blue. There was no wildlife on the island or in the stagnant water. There was no wind. There was no sound except the ones they produced on their own. But even the severe silence was different from silences she's experience in the past. Everything is dead on the small, small island.

Everything is dead, Vanitas is a viper, Xion has been terrified into capitulation, and Ventus is sleeping the days away.

* * *

It was just him and Ventus at first. He doesn't want to think about the finite eternity he spent with the neophyte before he fell asleep, but the good news is now things are different. There's a girl here. A cute one.

Unfortunately, with the way she acts, she's more of a cute conundrum than anything else.

When she first got there, she babbled on blindly about how her choice was made, some "Roxas" will take care of everything, hopefully "Axel" won't intervene. She was a raving lunatic. Then it finally registered to her that Vanitas was there and she gave one final scream, and then lost her voice forever. She hides in one of the island trees now, refusing to come out or to acknowledge his presence.

He tried to get her out the only way he knew how. He unsheathed his silver tongue and got to work. Only problem is, it didn't seem to be working. She hadn't budged in ages, and Vanitas was losing his patience. No, no, that's not the right word, he's spent ten years with only Ventus and a dead island to keep him company, he is _made_ of patience. What he's losing is his composure. He's getting desperate, though he'd never word it so bluntly, he's getting really desperate really fast. All he wants is to know who she is and where she came from, but she seems adamant on keeping him in the dark. Vanitas still has some of Xehanort inside of him, and that insatiable hunger for information will not leave him alone in his current state of ignorance. He is a knowledge glutton, and he has been cut off from all sources and this girl is new and exciting and he just wants her to talk and he just wants to listen because he is a knowledge glutton and why doesn't she want to talk to him? What's wrong with him, huh? He didn't do anything to her. He didn't even really say anything to merit a scream and the silent treatment he is currently enduring.

In his frustration, and in her fear, neither was aware that Ventus had awoken.

* * *

"What's going on?" he inquired groggily, scratching the back of his head.

Everyone was silent. Everything on the island was dead, and now they were dead and even the silence didn't sound quite like silence.

Xion got out of her hiding spot and stood between Vanitas and Ventus, looking back and forth between the two.

"Roxas?" she asked shakily.

Vanitas smiled imperceptibly.

Ventus shook his head.

She fell to her knees and began to weep. Ventus ran to her side, like the good-natured kid he is, and held her firmly by the shoulders as she cried and vainly attempted at swatting the tears from her cerulean eyes. Ventus held her, and looked up at Vanitas, who was standing and observing the situation. They shared a look of simultaneous confusion and understanding.

Just as Vanitas was made out of patience, Ventus was constructed of calm.

Their years together had caused the two unlikely "friends" (Vanitas preferred the term "Hatefriends," but Ventus was not very agreeable on the matter) to really…grow up. They were still themselves, because being anything else was impossible, but they were distinctly different from the two bickering halves they had been at the start of their imprisonment. Yes, they still had their disagreements, because no one got along perfectly, let alone two polar opposites, but the possibility of tolerating each other was no longer out of the question.

Maybe Vanitas was a bit worried when Ventus fell into his sleep.

It only took a few minutes before she stopped crying, and sagged into Ventus's arms, which being the way he is, he graciously allowed.

She looked slightly dazed and frail, as if she could faint at any moment.

"My name's Ventus. Call me Ven!" he smiled. Xion smiled too, albeit, with a lot less vigor and cheer and a lot more melancholy. Ventus shot a look toward Vanitas.

"Oh, yeah, I was going to mention the new face, but you were, you know, busy sleeping."

Ventus just sighed and shook his head.

Vanitas would've punched him if he didn't miss the noise so much.

"What's her name?"

"Don't know," Vanitas shrugged angrily, "She doesn't talk."

"Well, she looks like she's been through a lot, poor girl. Maybe you were a tad insensitive?"

"Insensit — look, here, buddy, I was the perfect host unlike a certain Rip Van Winkle I know! What did you do? You slept the time away, blissfully unaware. You know how long it's been since I've been able to close my eyes? Since I've been able to have a dream, or even a nightmare?"

"Wow, you really are hung up on this sleep thing. It was just one night, jeez, get over yourself."

"One night? **One night?**_** You were out one entire blasted year.**_"

"A year? No, that can't be right."

"Oh, it's been a year, alright. You can check the palm over there, I marked every single day."

"Oh, Vanitas, you do care."

"I'm going to snap your legs in half and shove them down your throat."

"So this is the wake-up reunion I get? What about breakfast?"

Vanitas snorted.

"Don't you think we have bigger fish to fry." He gestured to the girl in the blonde's arms.

"Oh, we're having fish? That's new, I bet it'll be delicious!" he proclaimed, not the least bit cognizant. Was he trying to tick Vanitas off on purpose? Because it was working. He already wanted the brat in another coma and it had only been a few seconds.

"No, idiot —"

"Who are you calling an idiot?"

Vanitas looked at him with a mixture of amusement and confusion. He can't remember the last time Ven had risen to a bait, let alone an unintentional one. Maybe that little nap of his had made him forget their current arrangement.

It wouldn't have been the first time.

"Okay, I know you just woke up, but aren't you a bit young to be a morning grouch."

"I am twenty-five, no, twenty-six apparently. I am twenty-six I have just as much right to be grouchy in the morning as anyone else."

That certainly threw him for a loop.

"Wha—?" he unintelligently spluttered.

Ventus gave him a heated glare that cleared all confusion.

"You may be twenty-six, but you don't look a day over twelve, and you certainly don't act over it either."

"I'm a lot more mature than you! You didn't even have the propriety to comfort a clearly depressed girl! You drove her into a corner!"

"That corner was her choice!"

"Well, who made her choose it?"

"I didn't _do anything _to her!"

"Clearly!"

"Hey! I am perfectly capable of interacting with people, it's you that needs to work on your social skills. You sound dumber by the minute."

"Dumber by the minute doesn't make any sense!"

"I must be catching the stupid, then —"

"Stop!"

They both turned towards the girl who Ventus had left on the dry sand in order to cater to their argument.

They both internally smiled.

"Friends aren't supposed to fight like this!"

"We're really not—"

"Me and my friends…we hardly ever fought, unless it was something huge. And I mean life-or-death huge. How can you be so angry at each other over…over practically nothing?"

"So, she does speak."

"Yeah, and she's got friends, apparently, too."

A small, inarticulate mumble came from the raven-haired girl as she looked between the two smiling halves with gradual understanding. They snuck one side-glance at each other and burst into laughter.

"Who made her choose it?" Vanitas laughed, "You…you couldn't have worded that any better?"

"Any better than catching the stupid, I mean…" but he never got to finish that point because one look at Xion, whose gradual understanding was moving at a snail's pace, sent the duo into another bout of raucous laughter.

Xion's gape turned into a microscopic smile. She could tell that the fire in their eyes as they mocked each other burned clean. It reminded her of Roxas and Axel, the way they would bicker…

"Hey," Vanitas said after their laughter had died out, "What's she so smiley about?"

"What do I look like to you, a mind reader?"

"To be honest, you look like an idiot. But I'd rather not get into that now." He turned toward her, "So, how about it? Your name, not the reason you're smiling."

"I…I'm Xion."

"Finally," he breathed, "Xion." He held out a hand for her to take, "So, Xion…"

She took his hand.

"Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

And so began the strangest relationship Xion's ever been apart of.

_AN:_

_Sup, readers. _

_Now, I know what you're thinking, is this a Vanitas x Xion fic?_

_Actually, I'd like to admit, I have no idea what you're thinking, but it doesn't matter, because now I have got you thinking._

_The answer is maybe. This series will go on gravitating more towards their odd little friendship, and an even odder friendship when new arrivals show up. That being said, if you request a pairing, I will write it, but I won't make any pairing official until it has to be. The tricky part is picking the two characters this fic is mainly about. I'll probably change it from chapter to chapter depending on who's in it more. Also, feel free to request any little exchanges or shenanigans you want to happen, I'm always open to new ideas.  
_


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